Month: July 2013

No, don’t step on a scale, although most professional golfers these days are in good physical shape. I’m talking about your weight transfer. Most beginning golfers are taught to keep their head still during a full swing. This holds true, but what most golfers don’t know is that you still need to transfer your weight from your back foot to your front foot at impact. What does this mean? Take a look:

Notice that when I swing the club, my head stays still, but as I reach the impact position I continue to lean backward. Most beginning and intermediate golfers do this to counter the heavy golf club swinging fast around their body. Unfortunately, this moves the point where the club impacts the ground to behind the golf ball, causing you to make larger divots, push the ball, and (if the ground is hard enough) bounce the club and blade the ball. So, how can you fix it?

Here’s the Golf Fix:

Step 1: Start by putting an iron across your waist about belt high. Hold the shaft of the iron with your fingers and put your thumbs in your pants pockets. Note that I am set up in my address position, like I am about to swing at a golf ball. You want to make sure that your golf club stays pressed against your hips at all times during this drill.

Step 2: Start your backswing by rotating your shoulders, hips, and knees. At the same time, lift your front foot and step toward your back foot so that your feet are together at the “top of your backswing”.

Step 3: With your feet together, lean towards the target forcing you to make a step with your left foot back to its original position. You will notice that your weight now shifts from the back foot to the front foot. Make sure to do this “weight shift” before you rotate the hips and shoulders back towards impact. Notice my chest and belt buckle still point towards my back foot, indicating I made my weight shift before I started rotating.

Step 4: Straighten your front leg and rotate your hips and shoulders around the front leg. Your goal is to use the front leg almost as a post and rotate your weight around it. Again, note that my head has not moved much during this drill. Shifting your weight doesn’t mean you need to move your head; the majority of your power comes from the core, hips, and legs. If you can move your hips from the back of your stance to the from of your stance without moving your head, you will have more control and increased distance.

The finished product looks like this:

Do you want me to discuss a particular part of the golf swing? Comment on this post and let me know what you are interested in!